RWBY: The 2nd Generation
by SaiPrime
Summary: "Children are one third of our population and all of our future." About 35 years after the end of Volume 3, we see what this truly means for the world of Remnant. Join the "2nd Generation", of heroic Hunters-in-training as they embark on adventures that will impact the future of Remnant for decades to come. Rated T for fantasy violence. No profanity
1. Prologue: Chapter A

Prologue: Chapter A

 _What is your reason for desiring to be a hero?_

 _Do you think yourself a gift to the world, or is the privilege to help it a gift upon itself?_

* * *

A small, pale blue-haired girl in a light blue jacket walks into a moonlit castle with a dignified gait, posture, and expression. The walls are black, with eerie, white light pouring through the ornate windows. The girl reaches the middle of the room, and stops in front of a giant set of silver armor that was knelt down on one knee.

The Giant Armor stands up and readies its claymore, holding it in both hands, and the girl does the same, removing her own blade – a silver longsword – from her back in her left hand, and holding it in both hands as well.

The steel titan quickly spins and delivers a powerful downward strike while the girl hops out of harms way, to her right. But the Armor gives her no quarter, attacking once again with a series of angled strikes, advancing with each swing. The girl dodges, left, right, duck, jump, and executes a spinning slash in midair, then forms a white Glyph with a snowflake pattern under her feet to jump off of, and continues with a swift downward slice.

The Armor flinches momentarily, but then lashes out with a left straight. The girl blocks it in just barely enough time with the flat of her blade, using the momentum to flip backward and make some distance. Then she shifts her sword into a marksman rifle, one half of the blade on the top edge of the rifle, the other now a bayonet attach to the front bottom of the barrel. The bluenette opens fire on the Armor, her bullets only making it flinch, but not having much lasting effect.

The Armor then leaps forward and into the air, delivering a mighty blow upon landing. The girl cartwheels out of the way and shifts her rifle back into longsword form. She delivers a downward strike, followed by a rising strike, then lets loose with a spinning slash, but is left open to a haymaker that knocks her several feet back. She tumbles and lands on the ground. The Armor simply walks toward the girl while she struggles to get up.

A horizontal cut across her nose starting to seep with blood, she takes her right hand and feels the blood running down her cheek, then makes it back to her feet. She looks into the Giant Armor's empty visor with a grin on her face, shifting her stance to hold her blade down at her right side with both hands. The spinning chamber within the guard of her sword switches to a small, red vial, and her blade begins glowing red.

The Giant Armor sprints up and goes for an arcing hack slash. The girl answers with a rising slash, and when their blades clash, a red light flashes out from the impact, and the Giant Armor's claymore is reflected back, causing the steel titan to stagger. She immediately switches her sword's Dust chamber to green and generates a green Glyph with a spiral pattern in front of her, executing a dashing thrust through it, striking past the giant with a flash of green and a gust of wind, and ending in the air above it. She turns around in midair, shifting her sword back into a rifle and switching the chamber to light blue, opening fire with shots that freeze upon contact, trapping the Giant Armor in ice.

She lands and points with two fingers, generating multiple white Glyphs around the giant, and one beneath her feet. She then thrusts her sword forward in one hand and advances at blistering speed, jumping off of each Glyph surrounding the Giant Armor, more and more ice shattering off of it with each pass, striking about six times, ending on the opposite side of it, the Giant Armor's claymore dropping from its grasp.

While the Armor reels back from her assault, she generates another white Glyph underneath her feet and kneels down with her sword in reverse grip, switching the Dust vial to red. She then jumps along with the effect of her Glyph and a fire Dust shot from her blade, shifting back from reverse grip. Then she executes a jump in midair with a white Glyph and fire shot, letting loose a spinning slash, and lands her attack at the Armor's neck, severing the empty helmet from its armor and landing on the ground. While flying back in midair, a black smoke pours out from the Giant Armor and its severed helmet, turning to white, and they land on the ground, shattering into white shards and disappearing. The girl stands up and puts her sword back on her back, then looks up to a camera that was watching every moment, giving a sarcastic curtsy and walking back out of the castle.

* * *

Author's Notes:

This is a reboot of my previous version of RWBY: G2. Due to sudden plot developments in Volume 3 of the show, I decided that I had to make some changes. The main plot of my story, fortunately, had remained intact. I hope you enjoy this fic.

Please feel free to PM me about the story. Questions, ideas, suggestions, anything is appreciated. And if you do, please write the subject of your message as "RWBY - The 2nd Generation Fanfiction", or something to that effect.

And with all that being said, this is SaiPrime, rolling out.

Prologue Chapter 1 - Complete


	2. Prologue: Chapter OM

Prologue: Chapter OM

 _If the whole world was blind, would we even care about race?_

 _Would there be wars? Would we even have a need for weapons with which to inflict injury upon each other?_

 _To be blind to the differences between one and another would be to see a world truly beautiful._

* * *

A brown and red-haired girl sits on a bench, putting on her boots as a tan-skinned boy makes his way over from the other side of the locker room, his jackrabbit ears slightly bobbing with each step. "You ready Orianne?" the Faunus boy asks, with his slight English accent while adjusting his large left shoulderpad. She then finishes lacing her boots and gets up, standing a good 4 inches taller than him. She was wearing a sleeveless gold turtleneck and black jeans, in sharp contrast to his more traditional, Japanese-style battle gear. Looking over at him from behind her aviator-style sunglasses, she answers with a smirk, "Heh, of course I'm ready. Lets go out there and show 'em a good fight."

Orianne picks up a black and gold colored, metal handbag from the floor and slings a cylinder-shaped case onto her back, while the boy makes a final check on his weapon, which appeared to be a bladed shotgun, and the two walk out of the locker room. They soon take their places in the middle of a classroom, the attention of about two dozen other students on them. The Professor stood off to the side, a skinny man with a green mohawk. How a Professor was even allowed to have that hairstyle, no one knew, and people stopped questioning that a while ago.

The Professor announces, "Alright, Orianne Alistair and Mountain Daichi. You will be taking a combat test for unit combat, fighting training drones. Try to put what you've learned recently in this class into practice." At hearing Professor Thrush say the name Mountain, he grumbles a bit. Orianne responds to his grumbling with a light punch to the arm, saying with a smirk, "Chill out Monty, lets just take care of this test and be done with it already."

Professor Thrush steps back and enters a command on his scroll, opening hidden doors in the walls, revealing several silver-colored drones. The Professor enters another command, activating them, their red visors flashing to life. Professor Thrush announces, "Battle start!" entering one last command that causes the drones to spring to action.

Several drones immediately shift their arms to blade mode and rush at them both. One takes the first turn attacking Orianne with a horizontal swipe followed by a vertical chop. She dodges backward, then parries the second strike with a swing of her bag. Another one leaps at her with a hackslash, but she steps left out of the way, steps on the drone's arm, hops up and delivers a midair kick to the side of its head. Meanwhile, the drones leaped at Mountain in succession, getting shot down by well-placed shotgun rounds. But they got back up and continued their assault.

More drones attack Orianne, and she evades their assault, and lands nearer to Mountain. She says to him flatly, "Their attacks are easy to read, but the things are durable, we need to take the kid gloves off and destroy 'em." Mountain simply smirks and responds, "Good thing too, I was getting bored."

Mountain rushes a drone at full speed and plunges the bayonet on his shotgun through its chest. Then, in one smooth motion, he shifts his weapon into glaive form while thrusting it forward, and pulls the trigger, blowing the drone into multiple pieces and showering a few of the other ones with shards of metal, disrupting their vision and actions. Making use of this opportunity, Orianne shifts her handbag into a bladed compound bow. She presses a button on the grip that opens the cylinder on her back, revealing a quiver filled with arrows. She promptly and expertly shoots three arrows into the torso of one of the drones, dropping it where it stood.

Mountain advanced on the other two, carving them up with slices and stabs of his glaive and shots of the shotgun on its end. Now with only about 6 enemies left, The two Hunters-in-training continue their attack. Orianne crouches low, holding her bow parallel to the floor, and lets a few arrows fly, taking down another drone. When one of them tried to jump her from behind, Mountain came leaping in and stabbed the drone right through its core.

With only 4 drones left now, Orianne gives a smirk and says to Mountain, "I have an idea, help me line 'em up." Mountain quickly nods and starts doing so. He puts forth a few fake attacks and blocks hits, goading them into position while Orianne also helps position them with her arrows. After a few moments, the 4 last drones were in a line in front of her, and she notches four arrows at once, then letting them fly, each one into the visor of one drone and through its head, stunning them. Mountain then dashes in from the side, stabbing them through the torso and firing his shotgun in one thrust until they were nothing but charred scrap.

Seeing that all the drones had been taken down, Professor Thrush announces, "Battle Over. Thank you Mr. Daichi, Ms. Alistair, that was a commendable example of teamwork in unit combat." To which Orianne and Mountain reply respectfully, "Thank you Professor Thrush."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Yes, this still isn't a full chapter, but now at least I've got dialogue, eh? I decided to treat these prologue chapters like the Red, White, Black, and Yellow trailers that were released for RWBY some time before the first episode aired. Chapter A was a bit like the Red trailer, being simply a fight scene and some display of the character's personality, but as you can see, as the prologues continue, they will get more story-like.

Again, please favorite and review. Also, PMs are welcome, and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Suggestions, questions, even theories or guesstimations, it's all welcome. There will be some things that I can't tell though, spoilers ;)

And with all that being said, this is SaiPrime, rolling out.

Prologue Chapter 2 - Complete


	3. Prologue: Chapter C

Prologue: Chapter C

The only two truths of this world are these:

People crave conflict, and only the strong survive.

I will be the strongest when this world burns to ashes.

* * *

A young man walks down alleyways in the bad part of town, his jet black hair casting a shadow over his eyes. Hands in his pockets, bored look on his face, he wanders about looking for excitement. He comes across some thugs mugging a young woman at knifepoint and walks right up to the scene happening before him. He grabs the man's arm, pulls it away from the woman, and punches the mugger right in the face.

The man falls to the ground, a bit stunned from the blow to his face while the other man goes to help him up, and the woman who was getting mugged slowly inches her way away and behind the black-haired boy. He thinks to himself, 'She thinks I'm a hero, huh? How annoying...' He then walks forward, the two muggers making their way back to their feet, and says, "Only idiots pick fights with the defenseless. How about a stronger opponent to test your skills. Come at me."

The main mugger shouts, "Lookatchu Mr. Tough Guy, what are ya, 10? Go back home before I make ya cry little kid." The black-haired boy's yellow eyes almost glow from under his bangs, and he responds with a fiendish smirk, "We'll see who's crying after I'm done with you." The muggers growl in anger, and the main one says, "Alright, suit yourself, ya little punk! The main mugger then rushes at him with his dagger brandished, going for a stab to the heart, but just a moment before the mugger reaches him, he enters a boxing stance and steps forward, delivering a cross-counter punch to the mugger's jaw while dodging the dagger.

The second mugger rushes him and goes for wild punches and swings. Still with that fiendish smirk, he dodges every strike easily. After about 5 of the second mugger's attacks, he went for a straight, and the black-haired boy ducked under it, countering with a vicious uppercut to the second mugger's chin, picking him up off the ground, followed by a haymaker to his stomach, knocking him out. While the first mugger was trying to get back up, the black-haired boy walked over to him and slammed his head into the alley wall, knocking him out as well.

The woman who was being mugged goes up to him and says, "Thank you, thank you so much, I don't know what I would've done without you," continuing to thank him on and on. His eyebrow twitches a bit, he taps his foot, and eventually he cuts her off, "Shut up!" The woman stops immediately and cowers back a few steps. The boy says to her in a bored tone, "Don't you dare think I'm any kind of hero. I just fought those punks because I had time to kill, end of story. I couldn't care less what happensto a weakling like you." He then turns away and starts walking, wandering aimlessly again.

 **Later that day, at the turning of twilight to dusk -**

'Alright,' the raven-haired boy thinks to himself, 'now for the main event...' He now travels with a destination in mind, and the anticipation is apparentin his eyes. 'According to the information I got from that girl in the hat, they should be at the docks about now.'

The boy makes it to the docks, and after some snooping, finds a group of about a dozen Faunus' wearing Grimm masks who appeared to be stealing a Schnee Dust Company shipment of Dust. He runs up behind one of them, and as the Faunus heard his footsteps and turned around, he was met with a running haymaker that sent him sprawling. The others readied themselves in a hurry and turned to see their opponent, and one called out, "It's Char, the Black Dragon! Get 'im!" The White Fang grunts stop in the middle of their Dust theft and attack Char.

Char just flashes a grin, and crosses his arms, inserting each hand into his jet black shoulderpads, left hand into right pad and right into left. The shoulderpads then start shifting and changing, until they take the shape of char black gauntlets reaching from his hand to his elbow.

A White Fang Grunt rushes Char with a wild hackslash, and Char parries it with a backhand before delivering a brutal straight to his stomach and pulls the trigger on his gauntlet, shooting a point-blank shotgun Fire Dust round that sent him flying back. Another Grunt comes in with a slice to the right, then from up left to down right. Char enters a boxing stance, ducking back for the first strike, then forward for the second, and responding with a shotgun cross to the Faunus' face, knocking him out, and a few feet back.

The next eight or so were the same. They'd rush him, Char would dodge, and he'd counter with a punch that would turn their lights out. Eventually, the White Fang Lieutenant in charge of the operation decided to step in. "Well well," the boar-tusked Lieutenant says in a deep, gruff voice, "Seems I have the privilege of getting rid of a particularly annoying thorn in the White Fang's side. The only question now is, after I tear you apart, who should I mail the pieces to?"

Char responds to the large Faunus with a cocky tone, "Maybe you should get ready to answer that question yourself." Char then ejects the empty shells from his shot gauntlets and reloads it with more Orange Dust ammo.

The Boar Faunus brandishes his chainsaw sword in both hands and stands at the ready. Unlike his foolish Grunts, he was going to make Char approach. And Char does. Char comes running in and uses his left gauntlet to boost himself into the air about a foot, then his right to boost himself toward the Lieutenant with a flying haymaker. The Lieutenant blocks with the flat of his blade and rotates, forcing Char to the side and aiming a spinning slice at his back. Char, now in midair, quickly uses a shotgun burst to turn himself around, and blocks the attack with his gauntlets, his Aura helping to cushion the blow as he was knocked away.

Char tumbles a bit and gets back to his feet as the Lieutenant taunts, "You're gonna have to do better than that, kid." Char simply growls and gun-boost runs toward him for another go. Char attacks with a right straight which the Faunus dodges. But Char continues with a left cross feint, causing the Lieutenant to try to block with the flat of his blade again, and delivers a gut punch with his right. Unfortunately, the Lieutenant pushes right through it and headbutts Char, causing him to stagger back, disoriented.

When Char's vision came back, it was met with a hand grabbing him by the face. The Boar Faunus proceeds to run with Char's head in his grasp in front of him, and slam Char into a brick wall. Then he activates his chainsaw sword and drives it into Char with a horizontal slash, whittling away at his Aura and eventually sending Char through the brick wall behind him. As the rubble falls, the Lieutenant chuckles, "Is that it? The infamous "Black Dragon" who's taken down so many of our soldiers? I expected more of a fight."

The White Fang Lieutenant began to turn his back and walk away when he heard a muffled, devilish laughter coming from beneath the rubble. Then, a burst of what looked like purple flames blew a hole in the pile of brick. When the smoke cleared, Char was standing there, wreathed in dark purple flames, eyes glowing purple, hair emitting a black smoke, and smiling like a demon. "Oh, you want a fight, huh?" Char asks with an eerie chuckle, "Too bad... you're not getting one..." He starts walking toward the Lieutenant and finishes, "This'll be a massacre."

Char rushes toward the Lieutenant for a right straight and he meets Char's fist with his chainsaw sword, grating at Char's gauntlet, sparks flying everywhere. Char then shifts his gauntlet's firing mode and lets out a stream of Fire Dust energy like a flamethrower. Eventually, the chainsaw sword melts enough that it stops spinning, so the Boar Faunus thinks quickly and throws it away, intending to meet Char hand to hand.

While Char's gauntlet was cooling down, the Lieutenant grabbed Char's head and brought it down into his knee, following with a right jab, left cross. He then went for a right straight, but Char caught his fist in both hands and chuckled. His purple flames flared and his hair gave off a black glow before he pushed the Faunus back, putting him off-balance.

Char let out a feral roar as he went in for the final bout. He let a flurry of wild strikes fly, each one punctuated with a shot from his gauntlets, finishing with an uppercut that broke off one of the Boar Faunus' tusks and shattered his Grimm mask, launching him into the air before he landed back down several feet away, unconscious. Char's eyes returned to their yellow color, and the smoke and fire disappeared. Wincing and clutching his arm in pain, Char pants out, "Dang, I still can't control it..."

Suddenly, another group of White Fang members appears from the shadows, surrounding him. 'What? How are there more? This was supposed to be a small White Fang operation. Did that girl in the hat set me up? Or did they just finally realize that I was going to find them somehow?' He tries to raise his arms to fight, but a bolt of pain shoots through his right arm, 'Gah! It's no good, I can't fight like this... I guess this is how it ends...'

As the dozen White Fang troops raise their rifles to fire, a woman suddenly walks forward past Char to meet the White Fang. Her long purple hair snaking over her shoulders and back, bound into several large locks of hair by gleaming gold ringlets. The pointed tail of her purple coat trailed behind her as she stopped in front of Char.

The White Fang troops seem to be taken aback for a second at the woman stepping forward, but then aimed their rifles again. But that's as far as they got. The woman removed the glasses from her face and shot a venomous glare toward the troops, who then stayed still, seemingly paralyzed.

The purple-haired woman then placed her glasses in an inner pocket of her coat before drawing two handguns. The barrels of said guns were styled to look like the heads of a King Taijitu, the right gun being black and the left being white. In an instant, her eyes flicked between each of the White Fang troops, then she shot each one with extreme precision and efficiency, knocking all of them out.

After all of the White Fang grunts were rendered unconscious, she turned her cold gaze to Char, and he asked sarcastically, "What, expecting a thank-you?"

 **Several moments later that night -**

Char sat on a chair in a dark room with one solitary light above. He rested his head on his hand, elbow on the stainless steel table in front of him. The purple-haired woman paces on the opposite side of the table as she chastises, "Do you understand the gravity of your actions young man? Intentionally aggravating a terrorist group. Putting yourself and others in danger just to have a good fight, on numerous occasions. You are completely-" She was cut off by a voice from within the shadows, "I think that's enough Lily."

Lily steps out of the way and a man steps out from the darkness. A blonde-haired man wearing a black suit, white vest, and yellow shirt and scarf bearing a white double-crescent emblem. With a calm and collected demeanor, he sits down in a chair across from Char, "It's been a while Mr. Obsidian." Char replies, "Headmaster Arc."

"So," Headmaster Arc continues, "Do you mind telling me why you were fighting all those White Fang troops down at the docks earlier?" Char simply answer, "Tch, why else? To test my strength and get stronger." Arc chuckles and says, "Ah yes, I remember those days. I used to be so fixated on becoming stronger, and doing it alone. But at one point, I didn't even truly know why. Tell me, Mr. Obsidian, what is the reason why you want to become stronger, hm?" Char stops for a second, appearing to be stumped, then questions back, "What's your angle on this anyway, old man? Did my mom put you up to this, or do you just like to waste time playing 20 Questions?"

Headmaster Arc cracks a small smirk and says, "Actually, neither. How would you like to join my school?" Char responds, "Huh?" Several holo monitors showing the previous fight appear and Arc continues, "You do have exceptional fighting skill Mr. Obsidian, if not a bit... unpolished. Still, a great accomplishment for a young man who's never been to a Hunter's school. You could contribute greatly to the wellfare of our world." Arc places a Beacon Academy business card on the table in front of Char.

Char laughs a bit and then asks, "What, like protecting the weak and being a hero? Thanks, but no thanks. I got too old for fairy-tales about 5 years ago. I'm leaving." He gets up to leave, but Headmaster Arc makes on last statement. "You're lost Mr. Obsidian, you want to fight, but you don't have anything to fight for. I know the feeling myself. I merely want to give you the chance to see if being a Huntsman will give you that purpose, and another kind of strength to strive for. The worst that can happen is that it doesn't work out, and you walk away, no harm, no foul."

After thinking for a second, Char takes the business card from off the table and puts it in his pocket while walking away, exiting the door. Lily remarks, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Jaune, I'm not so sure this is a good idea. That boy is headstrong, volatile, and openly defiant toward any kind authority." Jaune smirks and says, "Just like his mother, wouldn't you say? I think that with the right direction, that boy will become a great Huntsman..." Jaune pauses for a moment, then finishes, "Maybe exactly the kind of Huntsman we need for what's to come."

* * *

Author's Notes:

The first two chapters were exactly the same as before, but now if you've read the original Chapter C, you know what change had to be made in my story. Quite the change to the execution of my fic, but in the end, I think it makes my story more interesting in some ways.

Anyway, please read, review, favorite, and tell a friend who's interested in RWBY Fics. If you want, you can even PM and ask questions, give suggestions, offer speculation, all that good stuff is welcome and appreciated.

And with all that being said, this is SaiPrime, rolling out.

Prologue Chapter 3 - Complete


	4. Prologue: Chapter R

Prologue: Chapter R

Can a light be born from within shadow?

Can a good tree sprout from a rotten fruit?

Is it impossible to change one's own nature?..

* * *

A girl about 17 years of age walks down the street twirling an umbrella in her hand. She stops to look in the window of a nearby store to fix her orange hair, making sure it draped over her right eye just the right way, and straighten her black bowler hat. She then keeps walking and takes a shortcut through an alleyway, when a shady guy in a dark grey hoodie comes up from behind and puts a knife to her throat. The man demands, "Alright girly, y'got two choices. One, you gimme your money, and you walk away. Two, you die, and I get the money anyway ." The girl, however, simply chuckles and replies, "I'll take option 3, thank you." A trigger then flips up from the handle of her umbrella, and she shoots a low-power explosive shot at the man's feet, blowing him away.

After he regains his bearings, the man stands up again and brandishes his knife. The redhead turns around calmly, then tosses her umbella into the air and catches it, now holding it in more a sword-like manner. The man runs at her and goes for a stab. In response, she steps to the right and strikes his wrist with the umbrella, then quickly slides the umbrella in her grip and hooks it onto his arm with the handle, using her other hand to strike above the elbow, causing him to drop the knife.

She lets him go and states mockingly, "Strike one." In anger, the man goes for a left straight, and she ducks, jabs him in the stomach with the straight end of her umbrella, causing him to double over, then strikes his chin with the hook side, making him stagger back. She steps back and says with a smirk, "Strike two." Now infuriated, the man just runs at her with his arms out for what looked to be some kind of savage tackle. The girl ducks it and moves to the side. When he turns around, she hooks onto his ankle and trips him up while moving behind him, then hooks her umbrella onto his hood and dives between his legs, flipping him over backwards onto his face. She then says with the same calm demeanor, "Strike three." Then finishes him off with a golf swing to his head, knocking him unconscious. "You're out."

The redheaded girl stands up, straightens her hat, and brushes off her coat and pants, then walks over to the attempted mugger. She reaches in his pocket with her gloved hands and finds his wallet. "80 Lien, huh? Not bad considering it was practically handed to me." She takes the money out of the wallet and puts it back in his pocket, then continues on her way.

 **Later, after the girl arrives at her destination -**

She enters the building and shuts the door behind her. "I'm home!" She walks into the next room to see a man probably about 60 years of age, wearing a bowler hat, with red and grey hair draped over his right eye. He was sitting in a red leather recliner chair reading a book. Not even turning his head, he asks, "Rocket, you're late... What have you been up to out there?" Rocket answers, "Um, I really did plan to be back on time. You see, first I had a meeting to sell some information on the White Fang to this spiky-haired dude. Then, I sold some information on him to the White Fang, and then after that, I sent an anonymous tip on the first guy to Beacon Academy. Just to keep him around as a client, of course. Then, I stopped by the café for a piece of cake."

The man puts down his book and starts fiddling with his polished silver and red cane, "Sounds like a good day of business. But where exactly is the part where you ran late coming up?" She answers, "Well, on the way back from the café, I kinda got mugged." The man asks, "Oh really? How much did ya get?" Rocket replies, "50 Lien." The man chuckles and says, "That's my girl. I'll let the fact that you were late slide this time, considering the circumstances."

Rocket gratefully says, "Thanks Dad." Then she starts to continue walking to her room. Her father says to her, "Hold it kiddo." Rocket stops and turns around, slightly confused. He takes a second to stand up and walks over to her, then says with a good-natured smirk, "Look here Rocky. I am Roman Torchwick, legendary thief and con-artist extraordinare, I think I can tell when my own daughter has something on her mind." Rocket breaks eye contact, looking toward the ground, visibly nervous, and her father questions, "Well? Gonna spill it, or am I gonna have to figure it out on my own?"

Things were never good when her father started investigating, he'd always find out what he wanted to know. So with a sigh, Rocket decides to spill it. "I've been thinking about it for a while now and... I want to go to Beacon Academy." Roman's eye widens just a tad bit, and he asks, "Really now. To become a Huntress?" Rocket hesitates, but then gives a quick nod in response.

Roman leans on his cane and rubs the bridge of his nose, muttering to himself, "Well this is quite the curveball, I thought it was going to be something a little less life-changing..." Quick to defend herself, Rocket explains, "I'm serious about this Dad, I think it could actually be a good idea! It's not like I have any crimes on my record, I've never been caught. I'll definitely be able to pass the tests because of everything you and Aunt Neo have taught me. And Huntress is certainly a more stable job than Professional Thief."

Roman shouts, "Ability is not the issue here girl!" He stops and runs a hand down his face, trying to reign himself in. Then he continues, "Have you even thought about what'll happen once the people there learn who your father is? At the very least you'll be singled out by the other students as the daughter of a scumbag. And at most the Headmaster will try to use what you know to find me. Don't forget that I've racked up a total sentence of about 5 lifetimes."

"But you don't even go out anymore." Rocket counters. "You just work as a consultant. Once I get in, you could just move to a new building." Roman says to her, turning around and walking over to the fireplace, "That is true, but... If you do this, you know we can't have any more contact with each other as long as you're in Beacon, maybe even after that..." He turns back to her and asks with a somber tone, "Are you sure you want to do this Rocky?"

Rocket looks straight into her father's eye and answers, "I'm sure Dad. I've never been so sure about something before in my life. Besides, after Beacon, I can just become a freelance Huntress or Bounty Hunter so I can have some freedom. And if it doesn't work out for me at Beacon, at least whatever Huntress knowledge I get will be useful somehow, if you know what I mean." Roman chuckles a bit and says, "Already thought of all the angles, huh? Well I guess if you're that serious about it, I can't really stop you, can I? Well go on now, you're going to Beacon soon. Go do whatever you need to do."

Rocket hugs her Dad tightly, "Thanks Dad, you're the best." Then she jogs off to her room to start preparing. Roman walks back over to his chair and sits down, thinking to himself, 'Never thought this would be how I'd have to let go. Never thought it'd be so soon. But it's for the best that she finds her own path. Certainly better than following mine" He looks over to the hallway that his daughter had just gone down, thinking back to bittersweet memories, 'I guess she's a lot more like you than I'd thought, huh Sepia. I always did say that she had my eyes, but your vision. I guess I can't have done too bad of a job. You'd be so proud of your daughter if you were here now..."

* * *

Author's Notes:

What a twist, eh? Who would expect the daughter of Roman Torchwick? And who would expect Roman Torchwick to be a halfway decent father? And who is Sepia?

So this chapter was a lot more dialogue-heavy than the previous ones. I guess you can say these Prologue chapters serve a twofold purpose. Introducing each of the characters, as well as helping me ease into the different types of writing Iill have to do in this story. Fight scenes, dialogue, comedy, serious. Hopefully Iill be able to get a good mix in the main story.

Anyway, please read, review, favorite, and maybe tell a friend who's interested in RWBY fics. If you want, you can even PM and ask questions, give suggestions, offer speculation, all that good stuff is welcome and appreciated.

And with all that being said, this is SaiPrime, rolling out.

Prologue Chapter 4 - Complete


	5. Prologue: Chapter CS

Prologue: Chapter CS

 _What is a legacy?_

 _Is it a blessing, or a curse?_

 _A goal to strive toward, or shackles to break free of?_

* * *

A Human boy, about 16 years of age, wakes up to the sound of his alarm clock in his bedroom. He turns off the alarm and drowsily lumbers out of bed and puts on his school uniform. It was troublesome having to put on a shirt, tie, vest, and suit, but not as troublesome, he had learned, as the teachers nagging him to put his tie on properly. As usual, he stops by the bathroom to brush his teeth. His fiery blonde and red hair was still a mess, but he never felt the need to bother with it anyway. He grabbed his schoolbag from his room, as well as storing his gunblade in the holster/sheath on his hip, and stepped out.

As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and exited his house, he was greeted with the familiar sight of a girl with silver hair almost seeming to shine in the sunlight, pulled back in a samurai-style ponytail. His best and only friend, Lie Silvia. Punctual, efficient, and pretty much on top of everything. "Morning Crimson." She greeted in her usual calm and slightly monotone manner. As he locked the door to his house behind him, Crimson responds drowsily, "Hey."

The two then set off for school at Signal Academy, as was the normal routine. Silvia asks him, "Didn't sleep well last night, huh?" Crimson replies, "Not that well. Had a lot of studying to do. I swear, Professor Bronzewing has it out for me, all that bookwork he assigns." Silvia responds, "He gives everybody the same homework Crimson. Maybe if you weren't taking naps in class, you'd remember more of the material and not have to study it as much after the fact." "No thanks," Crimson dismisses, "My grades are fine where they are. I just wanna get this over with as fast as possible, you know that." Silvia absentmindedly answers, "Yeah..." Silvia thinks to herself, 'I know that's all you want to do, but... I just can't help but think that you could do so much more.'

Before long, the two arrive at Signal and put their weapons in their lockers for use in combat class. Then they went to their first class, Vale History. The two take their seats, and before long, class begins.

 **Later, after the end of the school day -**

After the end of the last class, Crimson and Silvia collect their books and weapons, and exit the building. Their homes were in the same direction and general area, so they usually walked together. After a while though, it became apparent that they were being followed. The two have a silent conversation, then at once, they whip around and draw their weapons, Crimson his gunblade - Crescent Shine, and Silvia her katana - Kusanagi.

"Alright," Crimson calls out, "Whoever you are, show your face already, we know you're here!" On cue, the perpetrator steps out from behind cover. A Human, dark red eyes clearly showing his haughtiness. He brushes a hand through his wild, midnight blue hair and remarks sarcastically, with an insufferable smirk on his face, "Alright, alright, you got me Arc, bravo, really."

Crimson questions in irritation, "Ugh, really Dane? You're bothering me again? Just give it up already, I don't want to fight you." Dane responds to Crimson, "Oh, what is that I hear? Is the successor to the Arc bloodline nothing but a chicken?" Silvia starts to reply, "Crimson isn't scared of you, he just doesn't care-" But he cuts her off and says to Dane, "I don't see the need to explain anything to you, whatever helps you sleep at night." Then he sheathes his weapon and starts walking on his normal path again, Silvia doing the same.

Dane grits his teeth in aggravation and yells after them, "You really so little of a man that you'll run away from a fight? You're such a little girl, you're dad is probably ashamed that you're the successor to the Arc name! Your little girlfriend here's more of a man than you!" Seeing that he's not getting a response from Crimson, Dane instead decides to attack Silvia. "And everyone knows she's a freak anyway. Her dad's probably happier dead than he would be with the little freak!" Crimson notices Silvia stop in her tracks and tense up, and thinks one word, 'Crap.' Crimson turns back around to face Dane, and rubbing the bridge of his nose, he says, "You really shouldn't have said that."

Dane questions with a scoff, "What, did I hurt her feelings?" Crimson answers, "No, it's just that now... I can't really guarantee your safety." Silvia draws her blade, slowly and deliberately from the sheath hanging from her left hip, and turns around with stone-cold eyes full of silent rage, her piercing gaze staring straight at Dane, her intended target. Before another second even passed, Silvia is right up on him and slashes at his chest with Kusanagi. His Aura absorbs the damage, but he also gets knocked back quite a bit.

Dane tumbles on the ground and gets back up, drawing his cannon just in time to block her second attack, sliding back a little. Dane calls out, "Guys, could use some help here!" Suddenly, three of his croneys appear from behind bushes and corners. One with red hair, another with brown, and the third with green. The situation having been changed to being outnumbered 2-to-1, Silvia and Crimson regroup. Silvia asks, "Alright Crimson, what's the plan?"

Crimson takes stock of the situation. Dane was a formidable opponent. He has a variable fighting style with both a large cannon and a small pistol, and his strength allows him to use his cannon as a melee weapon. His lackeys however, were much weaker, and probably wouldn't be that much of a threat, even if they bunched together. The only play was to group the small fry together to prevent them from helping Dane. For the matter of who would take who, Silvia is too angry at Dane, she would have more precision if she fought the others.

Crimson answers Silvia, "Alright, here's the plan. You group the other three together and take them out, keep them from helping Dane. I'll take him on myself." Silvia almost looks angry for a second, but then she relents, "Alright, sounds like the logical play." Then they proceed to square off against their respective opponents. Crimson redraws his gunblade and calls out, "Alright Dane, if you want a fight, I'll give you a fight." Silvia takes position against the other three and without a word, she prepares to attack as they draw their weapons, which were all simple scimitar-like blades.

With gunblade brandished, Crimson takes the first action and goes for a hackslash at Dane, which he blocks with his cannon. Crimson tries to shoot his gunblade, but Dane dodges his head to the side and counters with a combat kick that Crimson takes to the gut. Dane kicks off of Crimson to make some distance while staggering him and shoots an explosive Fire Dust round. With not a moment to spare, Crimson manages to shoot the explosive round, causing it to explode between them.

After the dust clears, Dane and Crimson approach each other, and Dane spins around once, using the momentum for a downward slam at Crimson, which meets his blade. Crimson's legs strain to keep him standing under the immense force of Dane's attack, but he slowly pushes back up.

Silvia subtly adjusts her position in relation to her three enemies in order to gain an advantage. Eventually, the red one comes forward to attack with a sideways slice, which she blocks easily, her sword not even budging.

Green attempts to capitalize on the situation with a leaping strike, but Silvia pushes Red's sword aside and kicks his ankle to put him off balance, then pushes him into the way of Green, causing them to collide and tumble on the ground. Brown then rushes forward for an upward strike, which Silvia parries and counters with a spin kick to the back, causing him to stumble forward.

Crimson almost gets back to full upright position, but then Dane draws his pistol in his left hand, shooting a Lightning Dust round at Crimson's chest and knocking him back. Thinking he has the upper hand, Dane pulls out his trump card for good measure. He sets his cannon on the ground on its front end, and then plunges his right arm into the back end as it mechashifts into a large titan gauntlet. As it did, Crimson got to his feet and pulled out a trump card of his own.

Crescent Shine's blade flipped up at the base and extended into a crescent shape. The handle then extended to be about as tall as Crimson himself as it became a magnum pistol scythe.

Dane steps forward and aims a colossal punch straight at Crimson, but he stands his ground until just before it hits as he quickly dodges out of the way with the aid of a magnum shot from the back-facing side of the scythe head before shooting again and boosting at Dane from behind. Crimson goes for a jumping overhead swing, but Dane turns around and blocks it with his titan gauntlet.

Now seeing that her enemies were right where she wanted them, bunched together in front of the open road, Silvia mechashifts Kusanagi into its true form. A giant katana that's twice the length and depth as a normal katana. She then holds it out at her left side, and an orange vial in the blade starts to glow. Silvia takes a massive swing and launches an white shockwave at her opponents, taking them all down for the count.

Crimson hooks his scythe blade on Dane's gauntlet, using it to swing down and slide past him, slicing at his legs as he went by. Dane flinched from the strike before turning around to face his opponent again, only to see no one. By the time he realized what happened, it was too late. Dane looked above him to see Crimson above him in midair, his silver eyes fixated on his target, holding Crescent Shine at the ready. He then fires a shot, propelling him downward. Spinning like a top, he uses the momentum to deliver a powerful slice while moving past him before landing, shifting Crescent Shine back to gunblade form, and dashing at him for the final strike. A blade thrust punctuated by a point-blank magnum shot that knocked him back.

Dane gets to one knee and has to disengage his gauntlet. He looks around to see that his croneys have been defeated as well. He exclaims in shock, "How? How are you so strong? You're just an average Signal student, I'm one of the best ranked in combat class!" Crimson takes no action to answer Dane, and instead demands, "Take your lackeys and leave, now." Dane grits his teeth and complies, only because he has no choice, and he and said three lackeys retreat the other way.

Walking on their way once again, Silvia says to Crimson, "You know, that guy is really ticking me off. Are you really sure we can't break his legs, just once?" Crimson chuckles and answers, "Yes, no leg-breaking Silv." A couple moments pass before Silvia states, "...'Cuz I will do it, you know." Crimson replies, "I know you would." Eventually, they get to the Lie house as usual, and they say their goodbyes before Silvia enters her house, after which Crimson keeps walking until he gets to his own.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Yes, for those of you who read the previous version of this chapter, once again there are changes. I'm sure some of you can figure out why and what these changes were. And for those of you who don't know exactly why, all will be explained soon enough.

Please read, review, favorite, and maybe tell a friend who's interested in RWBY fics. If you want, you can even PM and ask questions, give suggestions, offer speculation, all that good stuff is welcome and appreciated.

And with all that being said, this is SaiPrime, rolling out.

Prologue Chapter 5 - Complete


	6. Prologue: Chapter E

Chapter E

 _For some, the worries of this world never go away._

 _However, troubling as they may be, you smile, laugh, and hide them away._

 _Are you trying to be strong for those your care about?_

 _Or is it simply foolish pride making you weak?_

A boy about 16 years old, hangs upside-down by his legs from a tree in the park, blonde hair hanging down from his head. While his golden eyes scan the pages of his book, his blonde-colored cat ears twitch and turn, listening to his surroundings. A slightly short girl approaches, the spring in her step quite visible, her blue ponytail bouncing with each step, and greets him cheerily, "G'mornin' Electrum!"

Electrum looks up (or down?) from his book and greets back, "Hey Alice, you ready to go?" She answers him, "Yep, Of course." Electrum puts his book away in an inside pocket of his shirt and buttons it closed. He lets go of the tree branch and he flips over in midair, landing in a crouched position. Electrum then stands up and walks alongside Alice, heading toward town.

Alice marvels, "Can you believe that we're actually going to be graduating from Signal and going to Beacon Academy soon Elec? I mean, THE Beacon Academy!" Electrum chuckles and responds, "I know, right? It seems like only yesterday that we were just amateurs struggling to even get the basics down properly. A lot changes in two years, huh?" Alice nods her head in answer, "Mm-hm." She also continues, "And I can't even imagine what kinds of weapons I'll see there!" She practically drooled at the thought.

Electrum sighs at Alice's typical weapon obsession, then asks, "Hold on, I thought Wondrous Edge was your baby? You aren't looking to replace it, are you?" Alice pulls her rifle out from under the backside of her coat in compact form, clutching it close, and answers, "Of course not! She's always gonna be my baby, I just... like meeting new weapons too." Changing the subject, Alice asks, "So what are you looking forward to at Beacon Elec?" Electrum answers, "Well, I guess just having some good fights and fun. Oh, my mom told me about this one food fight they had at Beacon that was more like a food war!"

 **Later, at the ChickenJaw Book Shop -**

Electrum browses through the shelves of books. Novels, light novels, comics, manga, they had everything. Alice follows after as he looks the shelves over, taking his time and picking up a book every so often to look it over, obviously bored. Eventually, he settles on buying two light novels, one novel, and three volumes of a manga. After Electrum paid for the books and they left the shop, Electrum with bag of books in hand, Alice complains to Electrum, "I'm glad that's over, books are sooo boring..." Electrum says to her with a lighthearted chuckle, "Hey, you can't rush picking a good book. Besides, we're going to the mechanic supply store next, and you know that you're going to take longer than I did." Alice replies to him, "No I'm not, just watch!"

 **Later, at Sarge's Mechanic Supply Shop -**

Alice looks through the shelves and racks looking for deals while Electrum leans against the wall reading one of his books. She mutters to herself about what she needs in terms of repair materials, repair tools, mechanisms for new projects, even blueprint paper. She looks at various machine parts, internally debating the pros and cons of different parts and such for quite a while. Eventually she just settles on buying a box of screws and a new set of wrenches to replace some that had gotten lost.

As they walk out of the shop, a smirk starts to appear on Electrum's face. Alice glances over and says, "Don't say it." Another couple seconds and a bigger grin on Electrum's face, and Alice says again, "Don't you dare say it." A moment passes before Electrum says, "Told you." Alice merely lets out a small growl and says, "Whatever."

 **Later, at the Café DuFresne -**

Electrum and Alice sat at an outside table at the café, enjoying their food after a good day of visiting all the stores and such. Electrum had gotten a simple tuna salad sandwich, whereas Alice had gone for dessert, a bowl of blueberry sherbet. In the course of the conversation, Electrum asks, "So how did that... ceremony... thing go anyway? I hope it wasn't too bad." Alice answers him, "Oh, it was fine..." She touches her hand to the newly healed scar across the bridge of her nose and says a bit somberly, "For some reason though, in my family, everyone who takes the test gets a scar. Nobody can really explain why, it just happens..." Electrum sees the look on her face, and offers, "If it means anything, the scar kinda adds to the whole hero look, right?" Alice perks up a little bit and answers "Yeah, sure. I guess so."

In the middle of their conversation, a Human about their age walks up to their table and starts talking to Alice, "Hey girl, what are you doin' hangin' out with an animal like him, huh? Why don'tcha step up to a real man." Alice says curtly, "No thanks, go away." However, persistently, the man keeps talking, "Oh, I know you don't mean that, come with me already and-" As he reaches to grab Alice's arm, Alice reaches to draw Wondrous Edge, but Electrum cuts in and grabs the man's arm, then shoves him back.

The man stumbles back a bit and growls, "Y'little punk! Who d'you think you are, huh?" By this time, the situation had caught the attention of most others sitting in the outside section of the café. Electrum whispers to Alice, I'll handle this." Electrum stands up and a bit of anger flashes almost imperceptibly across his eyes before he shows an unworried expression on his face. He proposes, "Idunno, how about we find out with a little game." As he sees the man's confused face, Electrum continues, "The rules are simple, you get a free shot at punching me, right here." Electrum points straight at his face, then continues, "Then I get a free shot at you." He finishes with a cocky smile, Think you're man enough?"

The man answers him, "Tch, alright y'little animal, I'll take you up on your stupid challenge, and I'mma take you down." He readies his right fist, working up to it, then aims a straight right at Electrum's smirking face. Right before his fist connected though, there was a flash of gold, and Electrum didn't even budge or show pain at all. After a moment, the man pulled his hand back, holding it in pain, doubled over. Then Electrum simply says, "My turn." And he delivers an uppercut straight to his chin that sent him sprawling and knocked him out.

Electrum asks the other people who were at the outside seats of the café, "You all saw that, right?" A few of them nod. "He struck first, right?" A few of them nod again. "Great, could somebody tell the manager that if he asks? Thanks." He then heads back to his table, puts the required lien to pay for the meal on the table, and grabs their bags from the previous stores. Then he says to the other patrons of the café, "Sorry to bother you, enjoy your food." And then he walks away with Alice following behind.

Alice wears a pout for a while, then finally says in frustration, "I'm not some damsel in distress who needs to be saved. I could've gotten him myself ya know!" Electrum explains, "I know. That's exactly why I took care of him. You don't know how to tone down your own strength." Alice argues, "I can hold myself back if I need to!" Electrum responds, "Well then what about the time you accidentally slashed through the Signal Academy Training Room control panel? Or shot down part of the roof in a sparring match?" Alice opens her mouth again to try and argue, but then relents, "Okay, you have a point..."

Electrum chuckles and remarks, "Of course I do. But don't worry, you'll learn someday." He pats the top of her head and Alice swats his hand away, saying in irritation, "Don't treat me like a kid, I'm just as old as you are!" Electrum, in turn, playfully taunts, "Sure you are Shorty." Then he proceeds to run away, smile on face. Alice yells "Hey! Get back here!" And she makes to run after him, slowed down by the wrenches and screws she's carrying with her, Electrum laughing all the while.

* * *

Author's Notes:

A cookie to everyone who can guess the references!

So that's the last Prologue chapter. Next comes the real story. Uploading will probably be inconsistent, so please bear with me. If you favorite the story though, you can get an e-mail notification when I upload a new chapter. I don't have much else to say about this chapter though.

So as always, please read, review, favorite, and tell a friend who's interested in RWBY Fics. If you want, you can even PM and ask questions, give suggestions, offer speculation, all that good stuff is welcome and appreciated.

And with all that being said, this is SaiPrime, rolling out.

Prologue Chapter 6 - Complete


	7. Chapter 1: The First Step

Chapter 1: The First Step

A giant, metal airship glides through the air on silver wing and burning thruster. Its destination? Beacon Academy, the best Hunter's Academy in the world of Remnant. Hundreds of young men and women have come here to become a Hunter, a protector of mankind. But how will they face the trials that lay ahead? That is up to them to decide. And that is what will determine what kind of Hunter, what kind of person each of these young men and women will become.

As the airship landed, the ramp unfolding, thousands of students flood out of the ship and toward Beacon Academy, the place where their dreams of becoming Hunters will come true. One young man in particular though, is more concerned with finding a trash can as he dashes about with panic apparent in his silver eyes, holding his mouth as he goes.

* * *

On the airship, Silvia watched as Crimson rushed off to find a trash can, as usual. So while he was off losing his lunch, Silvia decided to find the auditorium. As prominent a Hunter academy as Beacon is, it'd doubtless have a main auditorium where a speech would be held for the new prospective students. As she searches, a blonde Faunus boy suddenly comes up to her. "Hey, sorry to bother you, but have you seen a little blue-haired girl come by here? Wears a blue coat, black tie." Silvia answers simply, "No, I haven't." In response, the Faunus boy says "Bummer. Well thanks anyway." He makes to continue on, but then adds in, "By the way, name's Electrum. Hope to see you again, maybe sometime a little more chill. Later!" He then takes off jogging again, swinging from trees and all.

* * *

A couple other soon-to-be students were disembarking from the ship a little calmer than the fiery-haired boy was, walking out of the airship and to the side to escape the flood of other soon-to-be students rushing toward Beacon. The shorter boy, admiring Beacon's main structure, comments with his light English accent, "Beacon Academy, every aspiring Hunter's dream. Wouldja look at that..." The two of them give each other a knowing look, her from behind her aviator sunglasses, and then have a bit of a laugh. Then the spectacled brunette says to him, "Well, time to get to business, shall we Monty?" He simply nods once in affirmation, and they began heading toward the main building.

After a moment though, he asks, "Monty? Last time I was "Mo". How many nicknames do you have for me Orianne?.." She smirks and says, "What can I say, I like to experiment." Mountain sighs and responds, "Just... don't get too experimental. I still remember when you tried to call me Tay-Tay." Orianne giggles and says, "What? It's from the T-A-I in Mountain. I still think it was pretty clever." Mountain simply gives an unamused look at the remark as they keep walking.

* * *

As soon as the ramp hit the ground, the small, blunette lightning bolt known as Alice booked it out of the airship, with a certain self-proclaimed lion doing all he could to keep up. Soon, Alice came to a halt with the crowds of people in view, with Electrum trailing behind. While Electrum tried to catch his breath, Alice's eyes lit up and she began gushing.

"Ohmygoshthisissocool! Look at all these weapons! That guy has a sword with a blade composed entirely of crystalline Dust! And that girl has a guitar! I wonder what it turns into..." Before she could practically float away, Electrum had to drag her back by the back of her coat collar. Elec tries to get her to settle down, "Hey, calm down Alice, they're just weapons." Alice replies, almost indignantly, "Just weapons? I really thought you knew me better than that by now." With a chuckle, he gives a light apology while looking around at his surroundings, "Sorry, I know. "They're an extension of ourselves, a part of us" and all that." But when he looks back, she's gone. And Electrum only has two words. "Of course..."

* * *

Alice continues to wander around the courtyard, geeking out at the variety of weapons that she sees around. But then ends up running into someone, bouncing off and onto the ground. The person she bounced off of - a boy with wild black hair - stops for a second, surprised, but then starts walking the other way. After recovering from her fall however, Alice proceeds to catch up to the jet-black boy and starts asking about his shoulderpads, which she had identified as being weapons, marvelling at their design.

With a gasp, she asks him, "Are those shoulderpads weapons? They must have amazing mechashift programming. And those look like Dual-Range Shotgun shells. Did you make those?" But with a sneer, the jet-black boy brushes her off. "Buzz off kid, I don't have time for this." Then he simply walks off, leaving Alice standing there, disappointed.

* * *

Crimson finally finds a trash can on the premises in what looked like a park or courtyard, and promptly sticks his head in and spills his guts, literally. After that bout of chronic motion sickness, unfortunately inherited from his father, Crimson brushes his messy blonde and red hair out of his eyes, thinking to himself while looking around, "Great, now I don't know where to go, I don't know which way is which. Was there a registry or something I missed?.." Suddenly, a red-haired girl walks up and looks at him with her one visible eye and an amiable smile on her face, "You look like you need some assistance," She tips her Bowler hat at him, then continues, "Mr. Arc."

Crimson looks somewhat surprised, but also hardens his expression at that remark, and the girl in the hat says to him with a chuckle, "No need to look so surprised, people ARE going to know who you are around here." Crimson asks sharply, "What do you want?" The girl in the hat remarks, "Not even going to ask a lady her name before you start making demands? Rocket at your service, and I simply want to provide some assistance. You don't know where to go, I do. Interested?" Crimson thinks about it for a second before relenting, "Fine, take me there." In turn, Rocket turns around and starts walking toward the main building, "Follow me." Crimson begins following after, hands in his pockets, and thinks to himself, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet huh? Something about this girl makes me unsure of that though, more than just the usual.'

On the way there, Rocket explains how things work at the start of the school year in Beacon. "First off, either you or your parents already did all the paperwork to get in here in the first place, so the most that's necessary once you get here is confirming that you're here by signing an entry sheet. It'll be on the right once we enter the main building. The Headmaster will give a speech in the conference hall, and then tomorrow, the real show begins."

She then turns to him and says, "Interesting that you don't know all of this already, since you are the Headmaster's son." Crimson simply glares at her because of that remark, but then asks back, "What about you? Why do you know so much about it?" She answers him, "Oh, I just do my research is all." She then turns toward the door to go in, and says back at him with a smile, "I hope we meet again. See you later." Then she enters the building, leaving Crimson with one thought, 'I swear, there's something off about that girl...'

Crimson shortly enters the building, signs his name on the entry sheet, and makes his way into the auditorium. He spots Silvia standing near the back of the crowd and stops beside her. Silvia asks him, "Feeling better?" To which he simply answers, "Yeah."

The murmur of the crowd was quickly quieted down by the sound of a tapping through the speakers as the Headmaster tested the microphone, and the majority of the audience turned their attention to the stage. There stood Headmaster Arc, composed and collected, yet relaxed.

The Headmaster spoke into the microphone, "There's not much to be said for now, so I'll keep it brief. You have come here to Beacon Academy in order to learn. To grow in your knowledge and skills so that you can use your life in the service of the people of Vale, and of Remnant, to protect them. But when I look at all of you gathered here, I only see wasted energy, needing purpose, direction." At this, the crowd starts to murmur, but Headmaster Arc continues, "You think that knowledge is the solution, but you will soon learn that knowledge is not the only thing needed to reach the goals that you have. It's up to you to take the first step."

Then as Headmaster Arc leaves the stage, the purple-haired Professor Ophidia steps up to the microphone and speaks, "You will all gather in the ballroom for the night. Rest and prepare yourselves, because tomorrow, your initiation begins. You're dismissed." And with that, she too left the stage.

Crimson seemed to sneer in contempt at the Headmaster's - or should I say, his father's - speech, and he proceeds to head off to find the ballroom.

* * *

 **Later in the evening...**

All of the prospective students had gathered in the ballroom, most of them now in pajamas, with a spot picked out for their sleeping bags on the floor of the large room. And of course, the teachers made sure that the guys and girls were an adequate distance away from each other, to prevent any funny business.

Alice, clad in an oversized baby blue shirt and black pajama pants, was trying to psyche herself up to try again to make friends. 'Calm down Alice, you can do this. That last guy was probably just having a bad day is all. Just do like Mom and Dad said and be calm, be confident, be yourself. Take a deep breath, and just do it.'

Alice tried to steel herself and took a few deep breaths, but she was surprised when she heard a voice from behind her. "You alright there kid?" Alice suddenly turned around and made a squeak in alarm, to which the apparent owner of the voice responded with a bit of a chuckle, "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

As Alice composed herself again, she got a look at the girl before her. She had mostly brown hair, was wearing a yellow tank top and black shorts, and strangely enough, wearing sunglasses inside.

Alice responds with a nervous chuckle and scratch of the head, "No no, it's fine. I was just zoning out a bit there." The sunglasses-wearing girl replies, "Don't sweat it kid, we're all a little nervous here. Who wouldn't be?" Then she introduces herself, "My name is Orianne, yours?" Alice happily returns the introduction, "Alice. Nice to meetcha." Orianne replies, "Nice meeting you too kid. Maybe we'll talk more later. Right now though, I've gotta get some shut-eye. You should too." She then turned and walked away.

After Orianne left, Alice thought to herself, 'I can't believe it, I made a friend! Mom and Dad's advice worked! Maybe making friends won't be so bad after all.'

Soon after, the lights were turned off and all the students went to sleep for the night.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone, SaiPrime reporting in. Alright, the start of the story, the real one! Finally, right? Sorry about being so slow about it all, my bad. But honestly, you should expect that from me. One thing about me as a writer is that it's actually pretty easy for me to think up concepts for stories, but hunkering down and actually writing it is just difficult for some reason.

I'll try to write more often though, I really do think I've got a solid fic in my head. All I have to do is write it.

As always, favorite, follow, and/or review if you'd like. Tell me what I did right, what I did wrong, any feedback is much appreciated. Questions, speculation, and the like are also welcomed.

And with all that being said, this is SaiPrime, rolling out.


	8. Author's Update

Hello everyone, this is SaiPrime. Sorry I haven't updated at all. I have an issue with procrastination, I think up characters and plotlines like crazy, but I have problems actually hunkering down to write it. Also the fact that I have to use either my phone or the family laptop to write. But since RWBY Volume 4 premiered, my determination to write this story has been renewed. So I'm going to try and pick up this story again.

As the name of a character mentioned in Prologue chapter R conflicts with that of a character introduced in Volume 4 episode 1, I'll be changing that, but that's about it. Anyway, I'll be working on this story again and may or may not hold off on uploading new chapters until Volume 4 ends, or at least part of the way through. So favorite, follow, and whatnot to get updates on this story.

And with all that being said everybody, this is SaiPrime, signing out.


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